Penitence
by DaughteroftheOneTrueKing
Summary: Petunia Dursley comes to a decision regarding Harry Potter.


**Hi everyone! I know you love that I'm writing so much, right? Well, I am rewarding you with one more story! This is going to be for my Houses competition standard, and the prompt is to write about the funeral of a frenemy. I have a really neat idea for this, and it may possibly turn into a full length story.**

**AU: Petunia decides to actually raise Harry right.**

**Note: For Lions team, Charms position**

**Word Count: 1009**

Petunia Dursley had always had a complicated relationship with her sister Lily. Things had only grown worse as the sisters had gotten married and started their own families. Now, here she was, sitting alone in the front row of the small church in Godric's Hollow, bouncing two baby boys in her lap. One was large and lumpy, with watery blue eyes and wisps of blond hair. This was her own son, Dudley. She knew that people believed him bratty and ill-behaved, but as a mother she could not help loving him anyway. Hopefully he would grow out of it.

The other baby was totally opposite. Where Dudley was pudgy, baby Harry was small and thin. He had jet black hair, and eyes that reminded Petunia painfully of her sisters'. They were the same shade of luminescent green. He seemed unaware that anything was wrong in the world, that his parents were now dead and lying in simple wooden coffins ten feet in front of them.

One of the funeral attendees, a man with lots of scars on his face and wearing a rather threadbare suit, came over and said, "I know you don't know me, but I was a friend of James' and Lily's from school. My name is Remus. Remus Lupin."

As Petunia gave him an automatic, "Thank you for coming," and he continued on his way, she realized that she remembered Lily speak of Remus often, whenever she was home for the holidays. They were both intelligent, and often did their assignments together. It was a horrible reminder of how many lives the Potters had affected, both good and bad.

As the other well-wishers came by, offering condolences, Petunia wished they would go away. She didn't want to be around these people who mostly assumed her relationship with her sister had been fine and dandy. Sure, they had been pretty close when they were young, but Lily had always been the one who stood out. Petunia's commonplace blonde hair and blue eyes paled in comparison to Lily's outstanding red hair and green eyes. But more than that, there was a certain _something_ to Lily. People wanted to be around her, while Petunia always seemed standoffish at best, and downright hostile at worst.

In their early years, Petunia had managed to keep those feelings back. She loved her sister, in spite of being constantly outshone. Once Lily had started going to Hogwarts, however, things began to change for the sisters. Their parents were thrilled to find out that Lily was magical, and Petunia was jealous. Lily would show them her marks on her Potions final, and their parents would burst with pride. But Petunia's efforts, while not entirely ignored, were not met with the same excitement as Lily's had been. Petunia grew bitter, and that bitterness shaped her. She married Vernon, and after she'd finally managed to tell him about what her sister was, they mostly never talked about her.

All that bitterness and anger had drained on the morning of November first. She had opened the door to find her sister's child in a basket on her doorstep beside the milk bottles, along with a note explaining that Lily had been killed, and Harry was now under her protection as long as he remained under her roof.

She had not seen her sister in nearly two years, since Lily had gone into hiding. They had tried to go out for coffee, and Lily had given her an invitation to her wedding to James Potter. It had ended badly. Petunia had thrown the letter back at her sister and left the cafe before the waitress took their orders. As soon as she had done it, she wanted to return, but was far too proud to turn back and apologize. Her last words to Lily would always haunt her. "_Have a great life with your freak family!"_

Now there was no chance of repairing that relationship, because she was dead, pale and lifeless but somehow captivating even in death.

Petunia wished Vernon had come, but he had refused to go to "that abnormal event", as if it were a cult meeting and not a funeral. Petunia had been glad at the time, but now felt she would have liked her husband's company no matter how grudging on his part.

Absorbed in her thoughts, Petunia hardly noticed as Harry snuggled into her side and fell asleep there. The gesture was so trusting, it scared Petunia. The boy surely didn't know what had happened around him, or that the woman who held him had hated his mother for most of their lives.

Petunia stared at the little boys in her lap. Both were now her sons, by blood or not. According to the letter Albus Dumbledore had left, Lily's last act had been to use herself as a shield between her son and their enemy. That act of love had left him with protection no one could break as long as he called the Dursley's residence home. Petunia had grudgingly taken him in, maybe not fully realizing the scope of things but understanding the general picture.

She must have moved or something, because Harry shifted and opened his eyes. Petunia saw the green eyes of Harry Potter- eyes that he had inherited from his mother- and hated them for that reminder. Yet she didn't hate this little boy. Who could hate a baby, whatever the association? His trust had cured her of that.

Petunia resolved that this would be her form of penitence. She would raise her sister's son, no matter how much it pained her to see those eyes. After all she had done and said, it was the least she would be able to do to make up for all the years she'd missed out on by focusing on her ire. Lily had been her friend as well as her enemy, but most of all, they were sisters. Petunia, while unable to fix that now, would make it up as best as she could. She owed it to Lily.


End file.
